Teamwork. It doesn’t just belong on a cliche office retreat on some hilarious television show. It has been proven time and time again, that the most successful businesses are run by effective teams who work together to achieve their common goal. If you can successfully build teamwork within your own company, you will notice the difference as you see increased productivity and an all around better work environment. Team building doesn’t have to involve cheesy games or painful retreats, but it involves looking at your team as a set of individuals and deciding what it needs to create unity. Here are five good team building ideas to get you started.
Create a Mission with Goals
People tend to work better when they have something to work towards. It also helps motivate workers if they are more aware of the “why” behind what they are doing. Get together your team, and work together to create a mission statement. If you already have a company mission or motto, make sure that everyone is aware of it. Then you can use it to frame smaller, short term missions that can help you to achieve your end goal. Goals are great ways to keep everyone organized and motivated, so work together to create specific, timely goals that you can work towards.
Train as a Group
Group training, rather than training people individually, can be a great way to encourage teamwork for a number of reasons. The first is that it can help people to get to know each other as they go through the learning process together. Secondly, it will help to build the team dynamic as everyone is made to work together to accomplish certain tasks. Lastly, it is a cost and time effective way to train people, which benefits you as well as the company.
Friendly Competition
Competition can be both good and bad for team building. What you want to do is to create a sense of unity through friendly banter and good-natured competitions. What you do not want to do is to create an unhealthy work environment by pitting employees against each other for things such as promotions, raises and bonuses. To keep the competition good-natured, make it unrelated to work. Good examples include weight loss competitions and March Madness sweepstakes.
Do Things Outside of Work
Everyone dreads that drunken office party that all employees will regret in a day’s time. But work functions do not have to be such cringeworthy affairs. Things such as barbeques or catered dinners can be great ways to have controlled office get-togethers, without the risk of embarrassment that can follow.
Reward Good Work
If employees know that they are appreciated, they are more likely to want to work hard for the company. As well as rewarding individuals as you regularly would, with raises and bonuses, make sure that you reward teams for their good work. If your set of employees has exceeded their goals on a particular month, reward them with something such as a party or dinner.
About the Author: Robert Cordray is a freelance writer and expert in business and finances. He has received many accolades for his work in teaching employee recognition.